Poor Girl Gourmet Cookbook

Sunday

Feb 17, 2013 at 12:01 AMFeb 17, 2013 at 4:23 PM

We love what this cookbook does for our taste buds and our wallets.

It’s rare that you see the words poor and gourmet together; however, blogger and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Poor-Girl-Gourmet-Style-Budget/dp/0740789902/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358524613&sr=8-1&keywords=poor+girl+gourmet" target="_blank"><i>Poor Girl Gourmet</i></a> Amy McCoy manages to wrangle these two words into a practical cookbook for the girl with a tight budget<i> and</i> lavish taste buds.

<img src="http://pgoarelish2.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/amy-mccoy.jpg?w=300" alt="Amy McCoy" class=" wp-image-138919 alignleft" height="203" width="150" />As a lover of food and former student at Boston University where she earned a certificate in cheese studies, Amy McCoy decided to make gourmet food available to any home-cook regardless of budget. Her cookbook focuses on keeping the menu choices under $15. We were shocked to see that items other than pasta made this list such as her Roasted Chicken Legs with Olives, which combines readily available chicken legs with good-quality olives to complete this Italian dish.

This relatable and hilariously written cookbook is laid out by type of dish with each recipe complete <img src="http://pgoarelish2.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/poorgirlgourmetcover.jpg?w=300" alt="PoorGirlGourmetCover" class=" wp-image-138918 alignright" height="204" width="170" />with a cost breakdown including the price of each ingredient at full price; however, she urges readers to buy meat on sale to further cut cost and allow space in the budget for dessert like her Expresso Granita with comes in at just $1.57 using leftover coffee.

The back of her cookbook includes menu suggestions coming in at under $15—that’s an entrée and side dishes for under $15 for a meal for four! For special occasions, she includes menu suggestions for “splurge” evenings, yet these splurges still come in under $30, significantly less than you would spend at a restaurant. She even tries to curb your cravings for take-out by including recipes inspired by her favorite take-out items such as this Ginger-Soy Sirloin Tip Stir-Fry: